hereditary
profession. We have no Poor Law in India. The people, from varied
motives, are ever ready to give aid to those who cannot support
themselves, and in addition exercise an indiscriminate charity, which
has a demoralizing effect.

The census informs us there are in Benares 16,023 masonry houses, and
21,551 mud houses--that is, houses many of which are of mud moistened
and dried as the walls rise--and others of sun-dried bricks. I do not
wonder at the disappointment felt by some who have been much impressed
with the front view of the city, and have then traversed its streets.

Till recently, from the commencement of our rule, our Government has
never been at peace with all the native rulers of India. In various ways
we have come into collision with them, and the final result in every
case has been their overthrow. The deposed rajahs have as a rule been
sent to Benares, as if our Government wished to compensate them for the
loss of their dominion by conferring on them special religious
advantages.

On the opposite side of the Ganges, a little above the southern end of
the city, is the town of Ramnuggur, with a population of 10,000. It is
the residence of the Rajah of Benares, who is simply a large landowner,
and has no authority beyond that which wealth confers. His palace, or
rather fort, is close to the river. Behind the town, close to the
Rajah's garden, there is a large tank, and a temple facing it which is
remarkable for the exquisite carving on its walls illustrative of Hindu
mythology.

[Sidenote: MACAULEY'S DESCRIPTION OF BENARES.]

I end this account of Benares by an extract from Macaulay's Essay on
Warren Hastings, in which, in his own high rhetorical fashion, which so
readily yields itself to exaggeration, he describes the city. If I
remember rightly, there is no mention in his biography of his having
visited the North-West, and his description is therefore not that of an
eye-witness.

"The first design of Warren Hastings was on Benares, a city which in
wealth, population, dignity, and sanctity was among the foremost in
Asia. It was commonly believed that half a million of human beings was
crowded into that labyrinth of lofty alleys, rich with shrines, and
minarets, and balconies, and carved oriels, to which the sacred apes
clung by hundreds. The traveller could scarcely make his way through the
press of holy mendicants and not less holy bulls. The broad and stately
flights of steps which desce